Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to drinking vessels for beverages, for example glasses. In particular, the present invention relates to drinking vessels, for example glasses for receiving alcoholic drinks.
Description of the Background Art
For consuming beverages it is known to fill beverages into drinking vessels, for example glasses, and drink the beverages out of these glasses. Moreover, it turned out that the exact design of a glass can influence, preferably increase the enjoyment of the beverage therein. For example, there are numerous different types of glasses, for example champagne glasses, wine glasses, wherein the design of these glasses can differ in view of red wine and white wine or even specific grape varieties, glasses for different beers and cognac glasses, to name but a few examples. In connection with some beverages, for example red wine, the taste experience of the wine can be increased in that the wine is mixed with air—the wine is allowed to “breathe”. Normally, users move or rotate the glass so that the beverage, for example the red wine, is caused to swirl in order to achieve a suitable mixing of the wine with air. However, the resulting mixing of the wine and air is often not sufficient for the flavor of the wine to unfold completely. Therefore, often decanters are provided, in which the wine is stored before it is drunk. These decanters generally increase the surface of the wine which is in contact with air and thus lead to an increased mixing of the wine and air. However, filling the wine into a decanter is an additional step. Moreover, the wine must be stored in the decanter for a relatively long time in order to be able to unfold its flavor completely. Therefore, timely advance planning is necessary so as to be able to carry out such decantation properly. Alternative solutions relate to top pieces on bottles through which the wine flows when it is poured out so that the wine has more contact with air because it is swirling. However, the known solutions, i.a., do not allow a person-related or individual breathing of the wine. In view of the above it is desirable to provide alternative means which allow the user to mix liquid and air in a simple manner.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 8,101,222 B2 to provide a glass with an additional device which, when the wine is poured in, guides the wine in a specific manner in order to aerate it. DE 20 2006 003 849 U1 further discloses a glass comprising swirling means for swirling the liquid.
However, the prior art solutions are related with various problems and deficiencies. For example, these glasses comprise additional elements, so that their design and production is additionally more complicated. Furthermore, users are often of the opinion that these additional elements are aesthetically little attractive and disturb functionality. Moreover, these additional devices increase the respective glasses' susceptibility to breaking and make cleaning more difficult. Moreover, it cannot be excluded that during cleaning a user who does not expect such devices in the glasses gets hurt.